PLATE SIX
“The first form of Lord Vişınu is called Mahā-Vişınu. He is the original creator of the total material energy. The innumerable universes emanate from the pores of His body. These universes are understood to be floating in air as the Mahā-Vişınu exhales. They are like atomic particles that float in sunshine and pass through the holes of a screen. All these universes are thus created by the exhalation of Mahā-Vişınu, and when Mahā-Vişınu inhales, they return to His body. The unlimited opulences of Mahā-Vişınu are completely beyond material conception.
After creating the total number of universes, which are unlimited, the Mahā-Viṣṇu expanded Himself into unlimited forms and entered into each of them. When Mahā-Viṣṇu entered each of the limitless universes, He saw that there was darkness all around and that there was no place to stay. He therefore began to consider the situation. With the perspiration produced from His own body, the Lord filled half the universe with water. He then lay down on that water on the bed of Lord Śeṣa. A lotus flower then sprouted from the lotus navel of that Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. That lotus flower became Lord Brahmā's birthplace. In the stem of that lotus flower the fourteen worlds were generated. Then He became Lord Brahmā and created the entire universe. In this way, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His form of Viṣṇu maintains the entire material world. Since He is always beyond the material qualities, the material nature cannot touch Him." ( pp.157-162 )